Page 34 of Destined Predator
After exchanging a look with his partner, Rand spoke. “He’s rogue.”
“As in a rogue agent?” Casey poured water for Robin and passed it to Emil to hand to him.
“He was…affiliated with us to some degree, yes,” Perez replied.
“Gotta be one of the cagiest answers to a question I’ve heard in a while,” came Rhett’s contribution.
Casey knew what he meant. The careful phrasing made him think that if Ernesto had been ‘affiliated’ with the FBI, it wasn’t because it had been his cherished childhood dream to work for the federal officials. Casey detected at the least persuasion and the worst, coercion.
“Whatever, he’s gone rogue. And we’d like to talk to him,” Perez chipped in.
“And…? What’s the connection with that and you being here?” Jack asked.
“And…” mocked Rand, his intonation a parody of Jack’s half-drawl. “And I don’t suppose you’re hiding him?”
He’d be a little too big to hide, Casey found himself thinking. An image of the giant wolf-demon hybrid came to him, but it was Rhett who was seeing it in his mind’s eye, not him. Rhett was replaying Ernesto’s words, too.
“I’m a Barghest, a hellhound, a Terrible Thing, and there are no others. I was created from a nightmare.”
Casey hadn’t known Rhett had been so affected by witnessing Ernesto in his beast form—and what he was capable of—but theimages Rhett was narrowcasting, received by Casey alone, were terrifying. He laid his hand on Rhett’s knee, under cover of the table, to show him he was there for the rancher, that Rhett would never have to deal with such demons alone again.
The contact steadied them both. Rhett’s fear dulled, replaced by a flicker of trust that warmed down the link like whiskey. It was gone a second later, but Casey clung to the echo.
“I don’t think our ranch hand would need anyone to hide him,” Jack commented. “He’s a law unto himself.”
“There’s old magic holding him together,” Ben muttered, quoting what he’d surmised at the time.
‘“Iamthe monster under the bed that keeps all the little shifters from going down the wrong path,’” Jack replied to him, quoting the job description that the Double T’s ranch hand had given of his role.
Perez scoffed. “That was in the old days. We’ve moved on since then.”
“So not hiding him, but did any one of you aid his escape?” Rand continued.
“Escape?” Robin burst out. “Escape from what?” Robin’s chair creaked under the tension coiling through him. The sound was louder than a shout, the warning before the strike. Casey knew it, felt it, but there was no stopping the inevitable.
The agents exchanging looks was clearly too much for Robin. With a roar, he went to throw himself across the table separating him from the blond agent…who stopped Robin’s attack by leaping from his chair and pulling a gun on him. Perez was on his feet in the same second, his gun drawn, too.
Casey’s chair scraped on the kitchen floor as he raced to stand with his brother. “Don’t you dare shoot,” he warned the FBI agents.
“They won’t.”
Movement came along with Rhett’s words—him standing and drawing his weapon too, just as Jack did, down the other end of the table, both their guns trained on the agents.
“Pretty even firepower,” Perez commented. “And I’m prepared to say I’m a quicker shot, so—”
“Dude, he’s arancher!” Emil indicated Rhett.
“Who’s won prizes for shooting since he was a kid,” Jack added.
“And I think we outgun you,” Rhett said. “Head’s up, Casey…” Without taking his eyes or his gun off the two agents, he pulled a second pistol from his waistband and slid it across the table to him.
A quick glance down the room showed them Jack sticking out his butt for Ben to take his second gun from the back of his pants, too.
“What, think I’d let you bring claws to a gunfight?” Rhett asked Casey, a crooked smile curling his lips.
The air in the kitchen vibrated—too many heartbeats, too much gunmetal promise. One twitch from anyone, and this homey room with its checked curtains and chipped mugs would turn into a killing floor.
Oh, that locked cupboard he was fishing around in was a gun safe, and Rhett passed two to Jack while they were fussing with the drinks and plates!
